New UCSF California Hospital in the Works

A Mission Bay, CA new medical facility will focus on women, children, and cancer.

It's the first hospital to be built from scratch in over 40 years in San Francisco.

"The hospital is to be on 14.5 acres between Third and Owens and 16th and Mariposa Streets," said writer Julian Guthrie. "Plans for the hospital call for 183 beds for children, 36 for women, and 70 for cancer treatment."

According to Guthrie, the Parnassus campus will focus on neurosurgery, cardiovascular, and transplant services, and the Mount Zion site will specialize in ambulatory programs, outpatient surgery, and clinical research.

Guthrie stated that at a meeting with the radiation oncology department at Mount Zion, Department Head Mack Roach discussed his desire to have a proton machine which provides radiotherapy for cancer patients and can cost more than $100 million.

The Parnassus site is comprised of the two buildings that function as one hospital: Moffitt, built in 1955 and Long, constructed in 1982, according to research.

This month the UC Board of Regents was expected to give UCSF Medical Center the approval to begin fundraising for the new hospital at Mission Bay, wrote Guthrie.

In other health news, the American Lung Association of California held a legislative briefing titled "Health and Environmental Benefits of Controlling Off-Road Diesel Emissions" for legislators and their staff in Sacramento.

Over in Texas, the American Lung Association of Texas is urging citizens to help pass HB 9 and SB 368 and say that voters overwhelmingly want a comprehensive smoke-free law. They cite statistics that say 14 Texas communities are smoke-free and 47 have passed some type of smoke-free provision, 66 percent of Texans polled favored making all the state's workplace, restaurants, and bars smoke-free, and 17 states have comprehensive smoke-free laws that prohibit smoking in all workplaces, restaurants, and bars.

"There is no risk-free level of exposure to secondhand smoke," say staff. "Secondhand smoke contains more than 4,000 chemicals and kills 53,000 non-smoking Americans yearly."

Secondhand smoke is a known cause of lung cancer, heart disease, low birth weight, chronic lung ailments and causes more than one million illness in children each year, including 150,000 to 300,000 lower respiratory tract infections and 26,000 new cases of asthma.

"Smoke-free policies are the most economic and effective protection from exposure to secondhand smoke," according to the Association's literature. "Ventilation systems do not work and are costly."

If most businesses restricted smoking, four to eight million dollars per year could be saved nationwide in operating and maintenance costs, according to research.